I was browsing chessgames.com and various other sites and came upon the following link about Linares: http://www.chessbase.com/newsprint.asp?newsid=5266

It shows photos of "young Anand", "young Ivanchuk", "young Svidler", and "young Gelfand" that I found pretty funny, in an eye-opening sort of way. Vishy without glasses looks so different! XD

And Kramnik's long hair is pretty awesome! I never knew he used to look like that. XD

Gelfand looks a lot more like a typical WCC candidate in his photo, and Ivanchuk looks a lot more psychologically stable. :P

Anyways, I just wanted to share my find. Thoughts?

Kramnik broke into international chess in one of those Linares events, he had risen so fast in Russia that he still didn't even have the IM title and was ineligible, but several of the GMs interceded with the organizers and assured them he was worth the spot, and he finished just out of the top prizes.  Always had the long hair in those days.  Now he's one of the best dressed GMs.

Couldn't find my old pix of Ivanchuk, he started out as a kid in the USSR days, but was shocking GMs at 13 and 14.  Here's one a couple years older than those you found: